Amy and Kevin Harrington are no strangers to the wrath of Mother Nature—and the shutdown and disruptions that can accompany an extended loss of electrical power. Their chronology of storm-related activities in just five months of 2011 reads like a calendar of power outages and disaster movies. With this latest storm prediction, they are ready.
"In June, we had a series of severe thunderstorms," recalls Amy, which knocked out power for four days at their Dover Plains, New York, home. "Then Hurricane Irene hit, followed shortly by Tropical Storm Lee." Irene left them without electricity for six days, Lee for three. "So when we were slammed with 23" of wet snow by the freak October storm that blasted the East Coast, we were expecting a 10 day impact similar to a storm in the late'80s.
What the Harringtons were in for was another five days without heat, hot water and warm meals—if power outages affected them the way they affected hundreds of thousands of other New Yorkers. But they don't.
"Well," Amy remembered, "One night we made roast duck for dinner. The prime rib we had was really perfect, too."
The Harrington's secret for surviving power outages—along with piping hot meals, a toasty home and warm water—is their fireplace. Actually, it's two Tulikivi radiant heat fireplaces with bake ovens for cooking.
"Even when we're out of electricity, we can use our Tulikivi unit for heating and to warm water," Amy explains. "It's easy to use, doesn't require a large amount of wood so it's very energy-efficient. With this as our back-up source of heat, we've never been cold during a power loss."
And with their bake ovens to cook up everything from vegetables and stews to Eggplant Parmesan, Amy adds: "We've never gone hungry, either."
Roast Duck with Sides of Rice Medley and Root Vegetables
(Note from Amy: I find a lot less fat rendered from the whole duck when I use the Tulikivi's Bake Oven.)
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Heat Tulikivi to 350 F. (If higher/up to 400, adjust cook times down by 15 minutes)
Duck: Score skins on 4 duck breasts (or on whole duck, 3-5 lbs). Sprinkle lightly with garlic powder. Place skin up in a greased casserole dish.
Rice: Combine equal parts brown rice, wild rice and red Thai rice to make 1 cup dry rice. Combine with 1 1/2 cups water, 1 tsp each of marjoram and tarragon in a casserole dish.
Root vegetables: Slice into 1/2 inch chunks about 2 cups total of sweet potatoes, turnips and any other root vegetables. Combine/toss in a casserole dish with a sprinkle of olive oil and coarse salt and 1/4 " water.
Put all dishes in Tulikivi. DONE.
Tulikivi, headquartered in Juuka, Finland, is the world's largest manufacturer of heat-retaining fireplaces, exporting over half of its output to Europe and North America. The company's complete range of fireplaces, consisting of more than 60 models, is considered among the cleanest wood-burning fireplaces in the world. Tulikivi has six production plants and employs over 500 people. For more information about Tulikivi, please visit www.tulikivi.com or follow them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Tulikivi.
Contacts:
ForTulikivi
Michelle A. Drager, APR, 484-269-2900
mdrager@thedragergroup.com
